Dr. Eric Hochberg

Eric Hochberg is a reef ecologist whose main research centers on the interaction between light and the function of tropical and subtropical shallow water ecosystems, particularly coral reefs. In practice, much of his research has focused on the development and application of in situ optical and remote sensing methods to study various aspects of coral reef system function, at scales from centimeters to hundreds of kilometers. Eric’s current research projects include the NASA-funded COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL), a three-year mission that uses airborne instrumentation and remote sensing approaches to identify reef composition and model primary production from an ecosystem perspective.

Eric received his PhD in oceanography from the University of Hawaii in 2002 where he studied spectral reflectance and remote sensing of coral reefs. Prior to joining BIOS he was an assistant professor at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. Currently, Eric serves as the associate editor for the journal Frontiers in Marine Science: Coral Reef Research and he is on the editorial board for Remote Sensing of Environment. He is part of the science team for the NASA Hyspiri mission study and he is serving on the “Ecosystems” panel for the Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Research Interests:
Ecology and bio-optics of coral reef/shallow water organisms, communities and systems; remote sensing of coral reefs for application to ecosystem-scale scientific studies and conservation across local, regional and global scales; organism-, community- and ecosystem-scale biogeochemical responses to stressors, both local and global/climate-related; connection between genetic, taxonomic, functional and bio-optical diversity.